Barclays Retail ends desktop services contract with Getronics

High-street bank Barclays is calling time on its desktop management contract with Getronics six months earlier than planned to take the function back in-house.

The deal which was worth around £35m a year to Getronics, roughly one quarter of its annual UK revenues, covered 17,000 PCs at Barclays Retail’s HQ and included remote monitoring, resolution and application packaging,

The agreement was due to run until December 2010 but the bank has served the Dutch integrator with a six month notice of termination, leaving it with a services contract for branch technology and data centres.

A spokeswoman at Barclays Retail told MicroScope that following a review of services and suppliers the decision was taken to “move some of [our] IT operations back in-house” but would not disclose details for its reasons.

“This will mean a reduction in business with Getronics with effect from summer 2010. Getronics continue to be a key supplier supporting aspects of the branch technology amongst other areas” she said.

“I cannot think of one other major organisation [in recent times] that has decided to in-source the desktop, normally they are almost tumbling over themselves to get rid of it, this is surprising,” he said.

Losing this contract will come as a bitter blow to Getronics UK which has this year shed 150 staff as part of efforts to save €60m annually.

Dutch telco parent KPN revealed earlier this year that it was reviewing the UK operation to determine “the best way forward” as it had been the “predominant factor in the downward trend” in first half year results.

However, more recently UK and Ireland managing director insisted it had no intention of pulling out of Britain but conceded it had been hit by the recession and was trying to ascertain the best growth strategy.

A spokesman at KPN, said losing the contract was “not a reflection” of the Getronics service as Barclays continued to be a customer but he refused to comment further.

Value-added resellers and service providers interested in reselling Aruba networking hardware and software can learn the benefits of becoming an Aruba Networks partner with this standardized checklist. Compare Aruba's reseller partner program with other vendors' offering similar products.